M SLAVERY TO SONG 

mis PASSOVER STORY 
ALEXANDER LYONS 




















FROM SLAVERY 
TO SONG 

THE PASSOVER STORY 


BY 


RABBI ALEXANDER LYONS, Ph.D. 

i* 

Eighth Avenue Temple, Brooklyn, N.Y. 


New York 

BLOCH PUBLISHING CO. 

“THE JEWISH BOOK CONCERN” 

1922 





^ L 1 


Copyright, 1912, by Alexander Lyons 


GIFT 

ABRAHAM H. BERMAN 
} ‘ NOV. 2, 1976 




f /y 2 S' /Vo <s /y 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


I. ISRAEL IN EGYPT 

One of the most sacred festivals observed by the Jews 
is Pesach, as it is called in Hebrew, or Passover, in Eng¬ 
lish. It is also called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 
It begins in the Jewish calendar on the eve of the 
fifteenth day of Nissan and lasts, according to the Bible, 
seven days. Orthodox Jews celebrate one day longer. 
Pesach falls in our usual calendar about the end of 
March or the first two weeks of April. It comes with 
the beginning of spring and is frequently called the 
spring festival. It is observed with beautiful home cere¬ 
monies. In every true Jewish household will be found 
Matzah, unleavened bread. Food or drink that is not 
unleavened may not be used during the festival. On the 
first and last days there is impressive public worship in 
the synagogue or temple. The Jew who has lost interest 
in Pesach has lost proper interest in his religion, or is 
ignorant of it. Pesach stands for one of the grandest, 
most inspiring teachings of the Jewish religion. To be 
acquainted with it is to admire it. Its message also per¬ 
tains to the non-Jew. 

Why is Pesach celebrated! The answer to this ques- 
tion gives one of the most instructive and at the same 
time dramatic stories of the Bible, or of any other book 
It would be a thrilling subject for the stage. It is called 
the Exodus, which means the going out. The second 
book of the Bible has received its name, Exodus, from 
the story. To tell this story properly one must start with 
Joseph, one of the noblest characters that ever lived. 
Every boy ought to know his career by heart. It is an 
inspiration. 


4 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


Now take your Bible and read from the thirty-seventh 
chapter of Genesis. You will find that Joseph was 
jealously hated by his unbrotherly brothers. They made 
up their minds to get rid of him. They did so with the 
first opportunity by selling him to some men who went 
to Egypt and there disposed of him. After a time 
and some very hard experiences Joseph became the high¬ 
est officer of the Egyptian King who was called Pharaoh. 
There was a terrible famine throughout Egypt and 
neighboring countries. Before the coming of the famine, 
which God had made known to Joseph, Egypt had at 
Joseph’s advice stored up great quantities of all kinds of 
food. During the famine people came from all directions 
to Egypt to buy food. Joseph’s brothers came also from 
Palestine, where their aged father, Jacob, still lived. 
After a time Joseph and his brothers became known to 
each other and reconciled through his forgiving kindness. 
He urged them to go back and bring their father, with 
all his possessions, to live in Egypt. Jacob came in great 
joy with his sons and their families, in all seventy people, 
the Bible tells us. They settled in a portion of Egypt 
called Goshen, which Pharaoh conceded to them. Here 
they continued to live. Their children married and had 
families. This continued to go on for several hundred 
years. Jacob in time died, and so did Joseph. The 
people went on increasing in number till in time they 
grew from the seventy who had come to Egypt with 
Jacob to hundreds of thousands. 

We must now go to the second book of the Bible, 
Exodus, to follow the story. We are told there, begin¬ 
ning with chapter one, that there came to the throne of 
Egypt a Pharaoh who did not know Joseph. Of course 
he did not know Joseph personally; Joseph had been 
dead a great many years. But he certainly knew of 
Joseph. He certainly knew of Joseph’s greatness and 
helpfulness to Egypt. Joseph had really saved Egypt 
from starvation. This could surely not be forgotten, 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


5 


But the Bible tells us of this particular Pharaoh, that he 
did not know Joseph. What the Bible means to tell us 
is that the Pharaoh did not wish to know Joseph. This 
Egyptian king was like a great many people to-day. 
They are ungrateful. They enjoy the benefits of great 
favors and then ignore or pretend not to know those 
from whom the kindnesses came. But ingratitude is dan¬ 
gerous, it always hurts the guilty one more than the one 
to whom he is ungrateful. God has made us so wonder¬ 
fully that we cannot do anything, either good or evil, 
without leaving a mark or impression of it within our¬ 
selves. If you exercise yourself you become stronger. If 
you do right you become better. If you do wrong you 
become worse. You grow in happiness as you grow in 
goodness. You feel mean and unhappy as you increase 
in wickedness. Pharaoh and his people had, in time, to 
pay dearly for his ingratitude. 

When Pharaoh saw the great increase of the Israelites 
he became alarmed. He feared that they might, in time, 
become so numerous as to be dangerous in case of war 
by taking side with the enemy. We cannot blame Pha¬ 
raoh for considering and looking out* for the welfare of 
his country, but the way in which he tried to bring it 
about cannot be defended. He loved his country well, 
but not wisely. He intended to be a good patriot, but 
was a bad man. If your character is bad your doings 
will be bad. A bad man cannot be a good patriot. True 
patriotism is a form of the highest goodness. It means 
purity, unselfishness, and love of the good and true. We 
shall see that Pharaoh was not such a man and therefore 
not what we should call a genuine patriot. In the end 
he did his country more harm than good. 

Forgetting what Joseph had done for Egypt, or un¬ 
gratefully disregarding what was due Joseph’s people, 
Pharaoh cruelly determined to keep them from increas¬ 
ing by making slaves of them. He had taskmasters 
appointed and compelled the Israelites to do work that 


6 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


was enough to crush the life out of them. They had to 
build walls of defense about cities. They had to erect 
great stone and brick structures for the safe-keeping of 
different kinds of grain and other valuable possessions 
of the king. Some of the pyramids, which are still among 
the wonders of the world, were probably built with the 
assistance of Jewish slaves. They had to dig canals to 
lead water from the Nile to parts of the country where 
water was scarce. In places where the river-bank was 
high, water had to be pumped from the stream to a canal. 
All this was killing work. It had to be done under a 
burning sun that often blistered the bare backs of the 
workmen. It had to be done for nothing because they 
were slaves. They were punished severely at times by 
their cruel overseers when, through weakness or other 
good reason, they did not do their work well. Such 
cruelty was the outcome of the kind of patriotism that 
was Pharaoh’s. 

And yet Pharaoh did not succeed with his intention. 
He wanted to crush the people and keep them weak and 
few. Instead of this, we are told that the people grew 
more numerous and strong. This seems strange, doesn’t 
it ? It will cease to seem strange if we bear in mind the 
old truth that is always new, that man proposes but God 
disposes. It is useless for us to work against God’s will. 
No matter how wise or wealthy or prominent we are, we 
cannot do away with God. In the end His will, not ours, 
must be done. Long before the time of this Pharaoh, 
God had promised to take care of the Israelites that they 
might receive and spread His teachings to the world. 
Pharaoh didn’t know this, or if he did he paid no atten¬ 
tion to it. Like all Pharaohs, he probably thought that 
there was no greater power than himself. So he made 
up his mind to take some other step to reduce the 
number and strength of Israel. This is what he did. 

He sent for the Hebrew nurses who attended the 
Hebrew children. He commanded that when Hebrew 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


7 


boys were born the nurses should put them to death. 
This would have been a good way to lessen and weaken 
the Israelites had it been followed, but it wasn’t. Pha¬ 
raoh learned to his surprise that the nurses did not carry 
out his orders. This seems astonishing. It was a bold 
thing for weak nurses to disobey a powerful monarch. 
It might have cost them their lives at once. "We shall, 
however, cease to wonder if we know what encouraged 
them to do as they did. The Bible tells us that they 
feared God. This explains their conduct. God is the 
King of kings. He is the world’s highest power. "Who¬ 
ever fears Him will fear no other being. "Whoever fears 
Him will do no wrong. The Bible gives us a beautiful 
illustration of this in the life of Joseph. Joseph was 
asked one day by the wicked wife of his master to 
do her a favor. It was a terrible wrong. If he consented 
he might have gained a valuable friend. If he refused he 
would surely gain a dangerous enemy. "What was he to 
do? He was a strange, friendless young man far from 
home. He had no one to advise him. But he had his 
conscience. His conscience told him that if he consented 
he would sin against God. This was sufficient to tell him 
what he should do. So he refused. He said (Genesis 
xxxviii: 9) : How can I do this great wrong and sin 
against God? The Hebrew nurses thought likewise of 
Pharaoh’s cruel command. They also refused. They 
were heroic women. They were what some people would 
call only nurses. They were certainly not much thought 
of in comparison with Pharaoh. They were humble 
people. He was honored as a mighty king and wor¬ 
shipped as a god. And yet how much greater and 
grander than he were those humble nurses. He was only 
great in position; they were great in principle. Others 
may get our position for us, we need not be great for 
that. Kings are sometimes mean, ignorant, or even idiotic 
and still are kings. But character is something that we 
must gain by ourselves. The nurses of whom we are 


8 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


speaking had developed fine principles. They were 
queenly women although they were in a humble place. 
The Pharaoh was upon the throne and yet he was an 
unkingly man. Would you be great, grand, heroic ? Get 
character. Would you get character? Then, like Joseph 
and those Hebrew nurses in Egypt, fear God. 

Fear of God is the beginning of character. True char¬ 
acter is true heroism. 

We might have expected that Pharaoh would punish 
the disobedience of the nurses. It must certainly have 
angered him to be opposed and thwarted by those whom 
he considered as only servants and slaves. But he did 
nothing. We are even told that they prospered. No 
wonder! God was on their side. The Bible tells us that 
God dealt kindly with them. Keep God with you, and 
the most powerful earthly king can do you no real harm. 
He may take awaj^ your health, and imprison or hurt 
your body, but he cannot harm you. Only you, no other, 
can do that. Have a clear happy conscience and you 
have earth’s greatest blessing and reward of which no 
one can deprive you. This great joy was certainly the 
possession of the brave God-fearing Hebrew nurses. May 
their memory be for our inspiration and emulation. * 

Pharaoh was still determined to carry out his murder¬ 
ous purpose. He became even more cruel. He noticed 
that the Israelites continued to increase, so he com¬ 
manded all his people to put to death every Hebrew boy 
that might be born. This was indeed a grievous state of 
affairs. It was outrageous cruelty. First, unfortunate 
Israel suffered bitter slavery; now they were to bear the 
even greater grief of the murder of their new-born boys. 
It was enough to cause them to despair and even to doubt 
that there was a God at all. Meantime the Pharaoh 
died, leaving their condition as it was. The darkness of 
their sorrow must have seemed blacker. But their night 
was passing although they knew it not. A star of hope 
would soon shine for them. They were as we sometimes 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


9 


are. We are in deep dark trouble and think that God has 
forsaken us or that He does not exist. Some of us even 
go so far as to think or even say unkind things of Him. 
But God still remains our loving Father. He may not 
help us as quickly as we think He should, but He is wiser 
than we and knows better what and when is best. When 
He appears farthest He is often very near. So it was 
with enslaved Israel. They were suffering cruel, unjust 
bondage. They sighed and cried with pain. Here was a 
wrong that had to be righted. And so the Bible tells us 
that the cry of Israel came up to God, and He heard. 
God was touched for their condition. He also remem¬ 
bered the promise He had made to their fore-fathers, 
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to protect their people after 
them. So God determined to send relief. It was done in 
a wonderful way. It is a thrilling tale. It impresses 
the truth so familiar in the Bible that, as the Psalmist 
expressed it (ix:10) : God will be a high tower of pro¬ 
tection for the oppressed, a high tower in times of 
trouble. Or as another Psalm has taught it (xxxiv:23): 
None of them that take refuge in Him shall be desolate. 


10 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 



MOSES HIDDEN IN THE REEDS 




II. THE LEADER OF THE EXODUS 


Let us first hear of the great man through whom God 
saved Israel from their dreadful Egyptian bondage. It 
is a story rich in interest instruction and inspiration. 

When Pharaoh commanded that all boy babies born 
should be cast into the river Nile there was one mother, 
Jochebed by name, the wife of Amram, who seems to 
have been more tender courageous and determined than 
the rest. When a baby boy came to her she tried to keep 
him. She kept him hid for three months. She then 
found that it was very dangerous and hopeless to try to 
hide him any longer. She had to give him up as all 
other mothers had to do. But she schemed to the very last 
moment to try to save him from drowning if she could. 
Instead of casting him into the water as the others did 
she prepared for him a little boat-like box made of the 
bulrushes of reeds that grew by the river bank. She 
daubed this within and without with pitch and clay so 
as to make it water-tight. I imagine that she lined it 
with soft grasses and leaves and maybe soft moss and 
tender flowers to make it as sweet and cozy a little nest 
as she could. Into this little ark she placed her boy. I 
have no doubt that you can easily imagine how she felt 
and how she looked as she fondly placed him in his 
little bed of flowers and kissed him a last good-bye. I 
am sure that in that moment God, who hears all things, 
even our unwhispered prayers, heard a mother’s heart 
praying for God’s protection of her child. Jochebed 
then took the little ark, placed it in the water among the 
reeds where it floated, and then hurried away. Like a 
true mother she had not the heart to stand and see when 
death came to her child. Our mothers try to give us all 
the pleasure and joy they can. There is no greater pain 

11 


12 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


or sorrow for them than when we suffer or die. Jochebed 
thought that the hour of her child’s death had come, she 
could not bear the sight and hasted away. 

Jochebed had a daughter Miriam. She was a young 
girl at the time. When her baby brother was taken to 
the Nile to be left there she went with her mother. When 
her mother laid the little ark with its precious contents in 
the water and hurried away Miriam remained standing 
at a distance to see what would happen. I do not know 
whether she watched because of great love and fear for 
her brother or merely out of curiosity, as many young 
sisters would do. I think that the most likely reason is 
that God gave her the thought to do as she did. That 
little babe needed special watching and care. He was in 
time to be the leader of his people from their bondage. 
He was to become one of the great men of the world. 
God knew this. He was guiding the happenings which 
were to set Israel free. Miriam and all the others did 
not know this. They probably found it out later. God 
always thus leads us. He leads us and oftentimes we do 
not know it. He leads us even when we sometimes seek 
and cannot find His presence. How careful we ought to 
be of ourselves! We cannot say but that one or more of 
us may like Miriam be used by God for some grand 
purpose to be realized later on. 

While Miriam stood watching the fate of the precious 
little ark, the princess, the daughter of Pharaoh, came 
down to the river to bathe. She noticed the little float¬ 
ing box and sent one of her maids to fetch it. She had 
it opened and beheld a crying babe! It was a beautiful 
child and touched her heart with pity. She knew of the 
cruel command of her father and said, this is one of the 
Hebrews’ children. Miriam had come forward by this 
time. When she heard the remark of the princess she 
asked, shall I go and call a nurse of the Hebrew women, 
that she may nurse the child for thee? The princess 
approved of this. Miriam ran and called her mother, 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


13 


the mother of the babe. I do not think that any of us 
can imagine the joy of Jochebed when she was told that 
her babe was not only not drowned but was to be given 
back to her for a time. The princess told her to nurse the 
child and care for him until he was old enough to be 
brought back, when she would pay her for her services. 
Jochebed must have smiled in her heart when the prin¬ 
cess said that she would pay her for tending the child. 
The princess, of course, did not know that Jochebed was 
the child’s mother. Jochebed took the child home and 
cared for him as only a mother can. I have no doubt 
that as soon as he was old enough to understand she 
spoke to him about God, about the beauty of goodness, 
about the cruelty of unjustly harming others, and the 
duty of defending the weak who are unfairly oppressed 
against the ill treatment of the strong. When she had 
kept him long enough he was returned to the princess. 
It was a painful moment for the mother when she gave 
up her boy. As she bade him good-bye she undoubtedly 
said a silent prayer for his welfare. She did not know 
that God was watching over him. She did not think that 
the good care and influence he had received from her was 
better for his future than any amount of prayer. Prayer 
is good and sacred, but God will reward our doing sooner 
and better than our praying. 

The princess took the child as her son. She called him 
Moses. And this Moses became the great man through 
whom God brought about Israel’s freedom! Before we 
come to the story of the liberation itself or the exodus 
as it is called, let us see how well fitted Moses was to be 
God’s assistant in the grand work. You may be a part¬ 
ner with God in carrying out the great purposes of this 
world, but you must first be and show yourself worthy. 
Think of the precious opportunity that each of us may 
have! 

When Moses reached manhood he went one day to the 
fields to see what was going on. He saw the Israelites 


14 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 



OPPRESSION OF THE ISRAELITES IN EGYPT 





























FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 15 

whom he now knew to be his brethren, toiling at their 
frightful bondage. While he looked he saw an Egyptian 
smiting one of them. It was a case of cruel strength 
imposing upon pitiable but unpitied weakness. Moses 
saw the cruelty and injustice of it. It stirred his anger 
to its depths and aroused his indignation. His feeling 
for his brethren which his tender mother had instilled 
into him during the years he spent with her had not left 
him. Still it was dangerous for him to interfere. It 
would mean opposition to Egypt. It might mean banish¬ 
ment from the ease and luxury of the palace, or even 
death. Moses certainly knew this. He undoubtedly 
thought of it. But he thought more of duty, of the voice 
of God speaking within him, telling him to do the right, 
to defend the weak, to put down the unjust at any cost. 
So he rose up in majestic wrath against the Egyptian 
and struck him to death upon the ground. There are 
some who cry out murder at this story; those who under¬ 
stand it will say with admiration, Justice! 

Another day Moses went out to the fields to visit his 
toiling brethren. He saw two Hebrews quarreling. He 
could not bear to see one man treat another unfairly. 
He would not uphold any one that was in the wrong, but 
would oppose him whether he was one of his own people 
or not. He was a fearless lover of justice. So he rebuked 
the Hebrew who was in the wrong. When he did so the 
man naturally became very indignant. You know that 
when people are in the wrong they usually become angry 
very quickly. He boldly asked Moses: “Who made 
thee a judge over us? Dost thou intend to kill me as 
thou killedst the Egyptian?” This frightened Moses. 
He felt that what he had done to the Egyptian was 
known. Although he was right in defending the op¬ 
pressed against the cruel oppressor even at the cost of 
putting him to death, he felt that the people would not 
look at it in the same way and would put him to death. 

It was dangerous for Moses to remain in the country. 


16 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


It would be the end of him and his usefulness. So he 
fled. He had to give up the rich, easy life of the palace 
and flee to a strange country, where he might have to 
bear hardship and meet hazard. He must certainly have 
thought of this before he interfered and slew the Egyp¬ 
tian. But it did not discourage and keep him from doing 
his duty. He was a true man. He was a great man. 
No great man refuses to do his duty because it is 
unpleasant. He will do it even at the cost of his life. 
Such men are the ones whom God chooses at times to 
carry out his purposes. Such a man you will find Moses 
to have been. He did his duty even at the risk of his 
life. He was compelled to leave all that had been dear 
to him and become a stranger in a strange land. He fled 
to a country called Midian. 

A genuine man is always true. He will always be 
found on the side of the true and good. So it was with 
Moses. When he came to the land of Midian he found a 
well in the field where he sat down footsore and weary 
to rest and refresh himself. While sitting there some 
shepherd girls came to draw water for their flock. Soon 
some shepherds came also. Being impatient and unwill¬ 
ing to wait till the shepherdesses had finished they drove 
them away. This was of course tyrannical and unjust. 
It was another instance of the strong taking advantage of 
the weak. Moses saw this. It stirred his indignation. 
His fine sense of justice which led him to smite down the 
cruel Egyptian and to interfere with the quarreling 
Hebrews now compelled him to protect the weak and 
defenceless shepherd girls. He stood up and defended 
them and even watered their flock for them. This kind¬ 
ness was delightfully rewarded. It brought Moses to the 
attention of the father of the girls, who was the priest of 
Midian, a prominent man. Moses became one of hie shep¬ 
herds, and better still, became his son-in-law. 

There is a very beautiful story of Moses’ shepherd If : 
told by the ancient Jewish teachers of the talmud to 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


17 


illustrate his character. One day when he was tending 
the flocks he noticed a lamb straying from its compan¬ 
ions. He went after it to drive it back. But it continued 
to go. The farther he followed the farther it went. At 
last it came wearied and thirsty to a brook where it 
stopped to drink. Moses came up to it and waited till it 
finished. Thinking that it was too tired to walk back so 
great a distance he picked it up and carried it on his 
shoulders to the flock. This was certainly beautiful ten¬ 
derness. It is the spirit which has given rise to our noble 
societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals which 
owe their start in America to the leadership of a Jew. 
The story tells us that while Moses was bringing back the 
stray lamb, a voice from heaven said to him: Since thou 
showest such tenderness to animals thou deservest to 
become a leader of men. 

Now this Moses, as I have already said, became Israel’s 
leader from bondage to liberty. I have spoken of him as 
I have to show that he was fitted by character to occupy 
so great a position and gain so lofty a place in both 
Jewish and general history. I wanted to point out that 
we have to be worthy if we would have the distinction 
of being chosen by Hod to carry out His intentions. God 
only honors those who are an honor to themselves. 


III. THE CALL OF MOSES 

Moses had shown himself worthy to lead Israel from 
bondage so God chose him for this noble task. God called 
him for the purpose at an unexpected time and in a 
strange way. God does not bestow honors and grand 
tasks upon those who go about in life looking for such 
distinction. God loves and prefers the humble, the 
people without conceit, the people who do not believe that 
they know more and that they are better than everybody 
'else. Moses was a modest man. The Bible (Numbers 
xii :3) tells us that he was the humblest man of his time. 
And so God’s call to be Israel’s leader came to him at a 
time when such a thought probably had no place in his 
mind. He was tending his father-in-law’s sheep in the 
wilderness, busy with the lowly duty of a shepherd. He 
was certainly too much occupied with the duty before 
him to think of other and especially greater things which 
need much time and thought for themselves. It is only 
the man who puts his whole soul into the little present 
duties who is fit to receive larger and grander ones. 
Moses was doing his shepherd’s duty faithfully when 
God called him to undertake the larger duty of becom¬ 
ing the shepherd of Israel. What a great rise that was; 
what a distinction to be called from the leading of sheep 
to the leadership of men. The like of it has happened 
again and again. Most of the great men and women of 
history came from poor lowly conditions of life. The 
Bible gives us some striking instances. Gideon was dis¬ 
tinguished as Israel’s brave deliverer from the Mid- 
ianites. We are told (Judges vi :15) that he sprang from 
a poor family in the tribe of Manasseh, and was the 
least in his father’s house. David became famous in 
ancient Israel as king and poet. Many beautiful soul- 

18 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


19 


stirring psalms were said to have been written by him. 
Read them in the Bible. You will be surprised at their 
beauty. If you understand and appreciate them they 
will leave you more religious and more happy in that 
deep inner joy of the heart which can only be felt and 
not spoken. David has been famous through history for 
the beautiful psalms attached to his name, and will con¬ 
tinue to be one of the most familiar and most precious 
names of the Bible as long as life has sorrow and smiles. 
In the words which David is said to have written we 
can find forms in which to express the gratitude of our 
gladness and the solace of our sorrow. Great as David 
was, he began life as a shepherd. He was called by 
* Samuel from the sheepfold when he was to be anointed to 
be Israel’s king as successor to Saul (I Samuel xvi:ll- 
13). The prophet Elijah is one of the greatest men of 
the Bible. He is also one of the most heroic men in 
history. When we read of his doings we feel as though 
we were standing before a mighty fearless giant. Take 
up your Bible and read of him, I Kings, xviii. And 
yet great and important as he became, we know nothing 
of his earlier life. It appears to me that the Bible 
wishes thus to tell us that a man may in his earlier life 
be poor and unknown, and yet later become very great. 
Elijah was succeeded by the prophet Elisha. The call to 
this holy office in ancient Israel came to him one day 
while he was ploughing (I Kings, xix). God seems to 
show special favor to the lowly, the poor, the oppressed. 
The great prophet Isaiah tells us (lvii, 15) of the 
Almighty, that He dwells in a high and holy place, but 
also with those who are humble in spirit. Be proud, be 
conceited, put on airs, as people say, think you know it 
all, and you are sure not to find God or become great. 
The greatest men and women are generally the most 
modest. 

We find in all history outside of the Bible that the 
great men and women have generally risen from lowly 


20 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


places of poverty toil and trouble. When Martin Luther, 
one of the greatest heroes of history, was a child he had to 
sing in the streets for money to buy bread. Linnaeus, a 
great naturalist, was so poor during his schoolboy days 
that he had to stick folded papers into his shoes to cover 
the holes which he could not afford to have mended. 
Another great scientist, Agassiz, was so poor when 
getting his education that he had to copy at night from 
other students books which he was not able to buy. I 
am sure that you know of the great men of our own 
country, especially Lincoln, who became great although 
they started life from poor beginnings. So it was with 
Moses, who is as great as any in history. He became the 
Liberator of Israel and, through the laws and teachings 
which he received from God, a teacher of the whole 
civilized world. And yet his first position in life was 
only that of a shepherd. What an encouragement this 
ought to be to those of us who are poor or have little 
opportunity. Let us but try to do the best we can and 
make the best of what we have, and success is certain to 
be ours. Men may not think that we are successful, but 
God will. He values us according to our intention and 
effort. As long as we feel that we have His approval, 
what need we care about men? On the other hand, the 
thought of Moses and other great men and women who 
have risen from poverty to prominence ought to put 
those of us to shame who have means and opportunity 
and yet make so little of ourselves. If poor boys and 
girls become great, rich ones ought to become greater. 
God expects us to do and become according to what 
we can. 

God’s call to Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt came 
in a surprising way. He was tending his sheep one day 
when he noticed a sight that astonished him. It was a 
little bush, from the midst of which fire flamed forth, 
and although it seemed to be burning it did not burn up. 
Moses was so struck by the sight that he naturally drew 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


21 


near to see what it was. He did not even suspect that 
God was near at hand about to speak to him of things 
of the greatest importance. Moses reminds us here of 
Jacob. You will find the story to which I refer in 
Genesis, chapter xxviii. It is one of the grandest sto¬ 
ries in the Bible or any other book. Jacob lay down on 
the road-side to sleep one night when he had the grand 
dream of angels going up and down between earth and 
heaven on a ladder. When he awoke in the morning he 
exclaimed: Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew 
it not! So it was with Moses when he faced the burning 
bush. He did not know that God was thus showing 
Himself and was about to speak to him. Too many of 
us are like Jacob and Moses. We rarely think that God 
is near and may have some message of importance for us. 
But there is not one of us to whom He does not speak at 
some time or even often. We do not hear Him. Of 
course not. We think that God no longer speaks to us, 
we appear to think that He is dumb. The truth is, as 
the poet Lowell has said: 

‘‘God is not dumb, that He should speak no more; 
If thou hast wanderings in the wilderness 
And findest not Sinai, ’tis thy soul is poor; 

There towers the mountain of the Voice no less, 

Which whoso seeks shall find; but he who bends, 

Intent on manna still and mortal ends, 

Sees it not, neither hears its thundered lore.” 

The fault is in us if we do not hear or see God. We 
are not prepared, we do not expect Him, we do not look 
for Him. There is more beauty about us than any of 
us see. If we were only prepared to see better and hear 
more attentively than we do we too should, like Jacob, 
find ladders reaching from the ground to God, or, like 
Moses, hear God’s voice sounding from any wayside 
bush. Moses was unlike us and greater than we are in 


22 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


that he was always prepared to hear God speak. He 
always carried thought of God within him, and therefore 
easily found God outside. So, when Moses drew near to 
the bush to see what it was, God spoke to him, and he 
heard and understood. God called him by name, and 
he replied: Here am I. Then God continued: Come 
not too near. Put off thy sandals from off thy feet, for 
the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 

Put off thy sandals! What a strange command from 
God. What it means was, as we should say, take off thy 
hat and bow down in respect and reverence. When a 
man knows that he is before God he must in some way 
show it in his conduct. We must treat differently the 
things which are considered sacred from those which are 
not. It is for our own good. 

God’s other words to Moses will also seem strange to 
some. The place whereon thou standest is holy ground! 
How could that be holy? It was only a spot in the 
wilderness. Every place can be holy. Any place can 
be made profane. The place whereon Moses stood was 
holy because he was in presence of God; he stood, even 
though he didn’t know it, before a great grand under¬ 
taking. Wherever we find God, wherever we worship 
him, wherever and whenever we think noble thoughts 
and attempt to do noble things, that time and place are 
holy. 

God now said to Moses: I am the God of thy father, 
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. 
I have seen the affliction of my people which are in 
Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their 
taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. I am come down 
to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to 
bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a 
large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. The 
cry of the children of Israel is come unto me, and I have 
seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress 
them. Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


23 


Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the 
children of Israel out of Egypt. 

Here was certainly a great surprise for a shepherd to 
be called so suddenly to the task of so great a leadership 
of men. It almost overwhelmed Moses. He straightway 
said to the Almighty: Who am I that I should go unto 
Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of 
Israel out of Egypt? There was no conceit in Moses. 
He was truly great and, therefore, considered himself 
insignificant, unimportant. Conceit is a mark of little¬ 
ness. Only people who don’t know think they do. 
Greatness is usually unpretentious, modest. The great 
man knows enough to be sure that he really knows very 
little. 

God encouraged Moses. He told him that He would be 
with him. Moses again objected that the Israelites them¬ 
selves would pay no heed to him, would have no confi¬ 
dence in him. God removed this objection. He told 
Moses that he would enable him to do some wonderful 
things before the people to convince them that God had 
really sent him. And still Moses felt uncertain as to 
whether he was fit to go. He pleaded now that he was no 
speaker. 0 my Lord, he said, I am not floquent, I am 
slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. To this the Lord 
said: Who hath made man’s mouth ? or who maketh the 
dumb, the deaf, or the seeing, or the blind ? Have not I 
the Lord? Now, therefore, go, and I will teach thee 
what thou shalt say. God is the source whence come our 
duties, from Him also comes all power. If we feel or 
know that a duty rests upon us it is ours to do and not 
to question. We needn’t bother about our ability to do 
things. God knows better than we what we can or cannot 
do. All that we are expected to do is to try. It is our 
intention that counts with God. God considers this while 
man thinks only of our success or failure. In God’s 
sight it is not sinful and disgraceful to fail. It is sinful 
not to try. Moses didn’t appear to have thought of this. 


24 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


Or he greatly underrated his powers. He was too 
modest. It is bad to think too much of self, but it is 
worse to think too little. Conceit will at least try. Too 
great modesty will often attempt nothing. So Moses said 
to the Almighty: 0 my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the 
hand of him whom thou wilt send. 

Moses had gbne too far. This last refusal was too 
much for the Almighty’s patience. How patient and 
persistent God had been with him! like a father towards 
his little child trying to persuade him to do the right, 
but God, like the earthly parent, is compelled sometimes 
to become angry at us and even punish us. He punishes 
us because he loves us, as we are taught in Proverbs 
(Ch. iii, 12) : Whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even 
as a father the son in whom he delighteth. God became 
angry at Moses for his continued refusal to go to Egypt 
and undertake Israel’s leadership. But God’s anger is 
short-lived while His love.isuninterrupted and unending. 
His love is like the great deep ocean; His anger is like the 
ocean’s tiny ripples. So, although He became angry at 
Moses it was only for a moment. He straightway said: 
Aaron thy brother shall go with thee. Tell him what 
thou hast to ^ay. He shall be thy spokesman, and I will 
be with him and with thee. 

Moses was now content to go. He went back to Jethro, 
his father-in-law, and told him that he must give up his 
position as shepherd to return to Egypt on behalf of his 
brethren. Jethro saw at once the sacredness of his duty 
and said to Moses: Go in peace. 

Jethro did well to accompany Moses’ parting with a 
prayerful greeting of peace. He was about to fulfill a 
divine mission. He was turning his back upon a lowly 
leadership of sheep to become one of the world’s loftiest 
leaders of men. To all who enter upon such noble tasks 
we may well echo Jethro’s words: Go in peace. People 
of peaceful purpose will surely attain to peace. 


IV. THE EXODUS 


Moses and Aaron appointed by God to be Israel’s 
liberators set out upon the performance of their divine 
duty. It was to be a difficult task. God warned Moses 
of this. He told him that Pharaoh would not readily 
give in. There were several reasons for this. In the 
first place it would be a great loss to Pharaoh to lose a 
people whose labor he had enjoyed free. In the second 
place Pharaoh would not readily consent because he 
could not. God would not let him. God said to Moses: 
I will harden the heart of Pharaoh so that he shall not 
let the people go. This seems very strange. Some even 
say that it is childish. It is childish, they say, to tell 
Pharaoh to let the people go and then prevent him from 
doing so by hardening his heart. There are many things 
which seem senseless to us which are wise and good when 
understood. So it was with the hardening of Pharaoh’s 
heart by God. Pharaoh had been guilty and the people 
of Egypt had been guilty also for a long time in keeping 
Israel in bondage. Bondage is wrong. They who inflict 
it know that it is wrong. And still Pharaoh and his 
people allowed the wrong to continue. Now whenever 
wrong is done it has to be punished. Punishment may 
not come at once, but it cannot be escaped in one form 
or another. 

God is in the world. No deed is unnoticed or remains 
without consequence. The longer punishment delays the 
worse it becomes. The longer we do wrong the harder it 
is for us to give up and the greater at last is the penalty. 
This is what we find in Pharaoh’s case. He had done 
wrong for a long time. His punishment continued to 
accumulate. At last when he felt that he ought to give 
up he could not. God had hardened his heart! He 

25 


26 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


would have to suffer first to undo all that he had done. 
As he and his people had caused others to suffer and to 
sorrow, so now they would have to balance the account 
by suffering and sorrowing themselves. We thus see that 
sin is at the start like a tiny thread that we wind about 
ourselves. If we continue to w T ind we shall find in time 
that the frail binding which might at first have easily 
been broken has become as strong, as burdensome, as 
difficult to remove as a cable. Let us beware of the first 
short sinful step. Let us avoid as we would a pest the 
first little wrongful deed. Pharaoh and his people 
hadn’t done so and this was why the work of the libera¬ 
tion became so difficult for Moses and his brother Aaron. 

They went to Pharaoh and said: Thus saith the Lord 
God of Israel, let my people go that they may hold a 
feast unto me in the wilderness. This meant that Israel 
were to serve God and not Pharaoh. Pharaoh was very 
much surprised at this request. Who is the Lord, said 
he, that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? He 
became indignant. He regarded the request of Moses 
and Aaron as very bold. He was looked upon in Egypt 
as a god. He recognized no other God. Moses and 
Aaron tried to explain to him, but it did no good. It 
only increased his anger. He accused them of interfering 
with the work of the people which would be a loss to him. 
He even commanded the taskmasters to give the slaves 
more work to do. They are lazy, he said. Their desire 
to worship is only an excuse to get out of doing their 
duty. So he ordered that the workmen should gather 
their own straw for making brick, but should still make 
as many day by day as before. This of course made the 
lot of the Israelites harder and sadder than ever. But 
the eye of the Almighty was upon them. His heart beat 
with pity for them. Pharaoh was great, but He was 
greater. In due time and in the proper way He would 
end their misery and punish their oppressors. 

The Israelites complained piteously to Moses of their 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 27 

increased suffering. God heard this and sent them this 
message of encouragement: I am the Lord, and I will 
bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians. 
I will rid you of their bondage. I will redeem you with 
a stretched-out arm and with great judgments. I will 
take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God. 
I will take you unto a good land and give it to you for a 
possession. The Israelites did not receive this message 
with cheer, they paid no attention to it. Their suffering 
had robbed them of all hope. They did not believe 
Moses when he told them. Still God went on w T ith His 
plan of deliverance. He does not altogether guide 
Himself by what we do or believe, but chiefly by His 
great unending patience and unlimited love. 

God had given Pharaoh and the Egyptians ample 
notice and opportunity to send Israel away, but they 
refused and continued their cruel oppression. He re¬ 
solved to force Israel’s liberation, but first to compel 
Egypt to suffer for its unpitying cruelty. He brought 
this about by inflicting upon the Egyptians, their coun¬ 
try and their possessions, ten plagues which increased in 
severity step by step until at last they were compelled 
to give up in death their first-born, both of men and of 
animals. 

These are the plagues which the Egyptians were com¬ 
pelled to suffer: 

1. All the waters of Egypt, in streams, rivers, pools, 
and ponds were turned to blood. Fish died and caused a 
horrible odor. The water was thus made unfit to drink, 
and the Egyptians were compelled to dig wells. Pharaoh 
was not afflicted by this so God sent the second plague. 

2. Frogs came up from the rivers, ponds and streams, 
entered the palace of the king and the homes of the 
people, and filled everything and covered every place 
with their disgusting presence. They got into beds, into 
ovens, and even into the troughs where bread was made. 
Nothing was free from their nasty pollution. Pharaoh 


28 FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 

was a little affected by this plague. He called for Moses 
and Aaron and asked them to petition God for relief. He 
was willing, he said to let the people go. God removed 
the frogs, but Pharaoh did not keep his promise and 
thus added to his wrong. God sent the third plague. 

3. All the dust of Egypt wherever it was, on the earth, 
on beast, or on man, was turned to vermin. Pharaoh’s 
magicians were frightened by this and told him that it 
was the finger of God giving warning, but his heart re¬ 
mained hard and he refused to give in. God then sent 
the fourth plague. 

4. Flies came up over all Egypt, swarming densely 
everywhere and making life miserable for everybody, 
even for the king in his palace. The land of Goshen, 
neighboring Egypt, where the Israelites were, was un¬ 
touched, so that the Egyptians could see that it was a 
punishment specially for them. Pharaoh was a little 
moved by this, for he expressed his willingness to allow 
the people to worship God in the land. Moses would not 
consent to this. He demanded that the people be allowed 
to leave the country. Pharaoh had to give in. The flies 
were removed, but he again broke his promise. God then 
brought on the fifth plague. 

5. All the cattle of Egypt were stricken with a deadly 
disease. The cattle of Israel remained unharmed. And 
yet Pharaoh continued stubborn. God sent the next 
plague. 

6. Boils broke out on man and beast throughout 
Egypt, ugly painful boils upon every one from the lowest 
to the king. Pharaoh’s heart would still not soften. God 
commanded Moses to bring on another plague. 

7. A fierce hail-storm came. Thunder crashed, fire ran 
along upon the earth, and hail poured down in great 
lumps. Bushes vegetables and trees were beaten down. 
Animals and human beings were killed. Only the Israel¬ 
ites and their possessions were protected. It was a 
frightful visitation. Pharaoh was affected. He sent 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


29 


for Moses and Aaron, acknowledged that he had done 
wrong and begged for relief, promising to obey God’s 
command. As soon as relief came his heart hardened 
again and his people were not released. The eighth 
plague was sent. 

8. Locusts came and covered the entire country. The 
ground could nowhere be seen. They entered the houses 
and filled everything. They ate whatever they found fit 
for food. They consumed entirely every green thing 
in the fields that had not been destroyed by the hail. 
Pharaoh was frightened by this plague and sent hastily 
for Moses and Aaron to acknowledge his sinfulness and 
through them obtain relief. God is a forgiving Father. 
He readily meets and encourages the least desire of His 
children to do right. So He caused the locusts to go 
away. But Pharaoh was a fickle being. His intention 
to do right did not last. As soon as the locusts were 
removed his heart hardened again and refused to let 
Israel go. He had to be punished again. This brought 
on the ninth plague. 

9. Dense darkness came over the country. For three 
days and nights men could not see each other. The 
darkness was such that even a light would have been 
useless. Such a punishment was as bad as being in a 
dungeon. People couldn’t move about. They couldn’t 
do anything. Pharaoh was inclined to give in a little 
when this plague came. He was willing for the older 
people of Israel and the children to go, but he wished to 
keep the cattle. He didn’t know that God will make no 
concessions to wrong-doing. He will not allow us to do 
little wrongs if we give up greater ones. So Pharaoh 
had to be punished once more. God had been patient 
long enough. He determined now to bring a plague that 
would certainly soften Pharaoh’s heart and punish him 
sufficiently for his guilt. God knew in His far-reaching 
knowledge that Pharaoh would give in this time, so He 
commanded the Israelites to prepare for their going. 


30 


PROM SLAVERY TO SONG 



THE DEATH OF PHARAOH’S FIRST BORN 





FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


31 


He told them to ask presents of gold and silver from their 
neighbors. They were entitled to it. They had slaved 
long for nothing. And they got what they asked for. 
It seems that God touched the hearts of the Egyptians 
to generosity. God also commanded that every Israelite 
should slay a lamb on the fourteenth day of the first 
Jewish month called Nissan and sprinkle its blood upon 
the door-posts of their homes. God intended to send a 
destructive plague upon Egypt which would pass over 
the homes of Israel marked with blood. He also com¬ 
manded them to celebrate at this time year by year 
their deliverance. They were to observe the festival for 
seven days. In that time they were to eat unleavened 
bread and nothing that was leavened or, as we should 
say, fermented. All preparations were completed. God 
now sent the tenth and last plague. 

10. At midnight death came into the homes of the 
Egyptians. It was death in one of its most terrible 
forms. It took away the first born in every household, 
whether it was the poorest or in the palace. Pharaoh 
and his people had long disregarded the sighs, the suf¬ 
fering, the death of poor enslaved Israel, now they had 
to pay the penalty, measure for measure, in their own 
suffering and tears. There was not an Egyptian home 
where there was not one dead. Not a single house in 
Israel suffered. They had suffered long enough. Their 
day of rejoicing had come. 

Pharaoh was at last moved to pity. He was now com¬ 
pelled to do what he had refused to do willingly. He 
learned to his sorrow as many of us have to do that we 
may put God off for a long time in neglecting our duty, 
but at last we shall learn, and the longer we wait the 
harder the lesson, that God’s will and not ours must 
prevail. When Pharaoh found this out he rushed even 
by night to find Moses and Aaron, to have the Israelites 
depart. He urged them to go, to go quickly, and take 
with them whatever they wished. He even asked them 


32 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


to pray for him also. What a pitiable object he was! 
He had been a haughty monarch, he was now a cringing 
suppliant begging a favor of his former slaves. This is 
a moral world. God is in it. Let us but wait and be 
patient. False pride and tyranny will tumble, humility 
and uprightness will be crowned. 

So the Israelites were driven out. Egypt was glad to 
see them go. So hurried was their departure that they 
had to bake on their journey dough which they couldn’t 
bake into bread at home. It was to be a reminder of this 
that God commanded the use of unleavened bread year 
by year. It was to be a symbol of Israel’s suffering and 
redemption. It is still used by the Jews of the world to¬ 
day during Passover. It is an object lesson to them 
teaching that in prosperity they must not forget that 
things were not always thus, but that they owe much to 
heavenly Providence. The Jews have other beautiful 
home customs in connection with Passover. On the first 
and second evenings there is a solemn Passover service 
and meal called Seder, which is an impressive lesson to 
all who participate, of Israel’s painful past and God’s 
ever present protection. 

So Israel’s exodus had come. God had freed the 
slave. A new Jewish festival was thereby created. 
Freedom was hence to be regarded as sacred. For the 
first time in recorded history the warning finger of God 
had shown that all men are God’s children, that no man 
dare take away or impose upon the rightful liberty of 
another man. For this great lesson, this great gain to 
human happiness, God be praised! 


V. FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


When the Israelites were freed from their bondage 
God led them towards what has been called the Prom¬ 
ised Land. It was the land of Canaan or Palestine. 
God had promised it again and again to the forefathers 
of Israel, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as a lasting pos¬ 
session for them and their descendants. The whole 
earth is God’s, as the Bible teaches (Exodus xix, 5), 
so He gave to Israel Palestine where they were to settle 
and begin their divine duty of protecting God’s teach¬ 
ing for the rest of the world. God is faithful to fulfill 
His promises. So now after Israel’s liberation from 
Egypt He began to lead them to the promised land. 

We are taught and can easily see that the shortest 
distance between two places is a straight way. And yet 
we find that when God began Israel’s journey He did 
not lead them straight into the land He had promised. 
The Bible tells us (Exodus xiii, 17-18) that He led 
them roundabout through a wilderness. This seems 
strange to us. I have no doubt that it also struck the 
Israelites with amazement. They had just come from the 
rigors of Egypt and now were to suffer the trials and 
dangers of a wilderness when they might have marched 
directly to the land of their destination. They probably 
thought that they had gained nothing by their liberation. 
Of course they were better off even in the wilderness, 
though it was harder than they had been used to in 
Egypt. There they had been slaves; now they were free. 
Hardship is not so bad when one is free. It is far worse 
to suffer and be a slave too. But the Israelites were not 
sufficiently refined to see this. Their many years of 
slave-life had dulled and almost crushed their finer feel¬ 
ings, We find proof of this a little later in their 

33 


34 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 



THE ISRAELITES ON THE MARCH 
















FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


35 


journeying (Exodus, xiv, 12). They were faced by a 
terrible danger and rebuked Moses for taking them out 
of Egypt. It had been better for us, they said, to serve 
the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. 
No true man would talk thus. He would rather die in 
the wilderness as a free man than live in Egypt as a 
slave. The fact that the Israelites felt as they did and 
were not more refined is the reason why God led them 
through the wilderness. The journey through the wil¬ 
derness was to educate and make better men of them. 
They were not fit now to take possession of a new country 
and begin a new nation. God in His great wisdom knew 
this. He was simply doing for the Israelites what was 
best for them, even though they did not know it, even 
though they probably thought that He was treating them 
cruelly. 

Many of us are often like the Israelites. We have 
trials and troubles. Misfortunes come that seem greater 
than we deserve and so harsh that they lead us to wonder 
whether God is really good. Whenever such thoughts 
enter our minds we ought to think of the treatment we 
receive sometimes from our father or mother. We are 
often compelled to do things, to study lessons, to prac¬ 
tice music; we must even receive punishment from them. 
At the time we cannot see the sense of it. We even 
think that they are unkind or cruel. When we be¬ 
come older and more sensible we understand that they 
only did what they did because of their love and desire 
to benefit us. So it is with God, our Heavenly Parent, 
Many of the severe trials we are compelled to suffer in 
life are His way of educating us to become better men 
and women. God led Israel through the wilderness 
because they would be the better for it. 

A little thought would have shown the Israelites that 
they had no reason to worry or complain. The Bible tells 
us (Exodus, xiii, 21) that God led them on their journey, 
pointing out the way they should go by sending as a 


36 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


guide before them a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar 
of fire by night. If the Israelites had considered this 
wonderful instance of God’s protection they would have 
found reason to trust that as well as God was certainly 
helping them that much He would probably help them 
further. Poor unfortunate Israelites! They were to be 
pitied more than blamed. They were what their past 
had made them. They show us how degrading and 
terrible slavery is. No wonder that God had them freed. 
No wonder that He treated them with such patience and 
pity even w r hen they acted crossly and ungratefully. 
Our heavenly Father understands. 

The Israelites proceeded to the Red Sea where God 
had instructed them to encamp. We shall soon see 
another reason why He led them the way they went. 
I have told you that He wished to educate and prepare 
them to be citizens of their new country. We shall now 
see that He also wanted to punish Egypt further. They 
had not been sufficiently punished, it seems. You can 
see from this how much God despises the cruelty of 
slavery. He again hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and 
this led him to regret the sending away of the Israelites 
and to attempt to bring them back to slavery again. 

Accordingly Pharaoh and his army with their best 
chariots of war set out to capture fleeing Israel. They 
overtook them at their camping-place by the sea. 

When Israel saw Pharaoh and his host coming they 
were terror-stricken and cried out bitterly to God. Even 
though God had already protected them most wondrously, 
they were thrown into despair when this latest danger 
arose. They blamed and scolded Moses whom God ap¬ 
pointed as their leader, and asked him sarcastically 
whether he thought that there was no room to bury 
them in Egypt that he brought them to die where they 
were. It was here that they said, as I have already told 
you, that they would rather have remained as slaves in 
Egypt than die in the wilderness. Moses listened calmly 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


37 


to their complaint. He felt deeply for them. Great 
man that he was he understood why they acted as they 
did. Besides, God had told him what fate was in store 
for the Egyptians. So he calmly said to the Israelites: 
Do not fear, stand still, and see what God will do for 
you to-day. The Egyptians whom you see now you shall 
never see again. God will fight for you, and you shall 
hold your peace. Then Moses cried to God for assist¬ 
ance and God said to him: Why dost thou cry unto me ? 
It w r as not a time for prayer and crying. It was a time 
to he up and doing. So God said to Moses: Say to the 
Israelites that they should go forward. Do thou lift up 
thy rod and stretch out thy hand over the sea and divide 
it. The Israelites shall go on dry ground through the 
midst of the sea. God would thus protect Israel again 
and punish their unyielding foes. Before this great 
wonder was done God further placed His protection 
around Israel by placing between them and their pur¬ 
suers the cloud which had been a guide to Israel. Now 
it continued to be a source of light to Israel, but to the 
Egyptians it was a source of darkness so that they were 
kept from coming near enough to do any harm. 

Moses now stretched forth his hand over the sea and 
God caused a strong wind to blow till the waters flowed 
backwards and left a passage of dry land in their midst. 
Over this passage the Israelites went while the water 
stood like walls at their right hand and at their left. 

In spite of the wonder of this great deed for Israel, 
showing that they were specially protected by God, the 
Egyptians rushed on after them without a moment’s 
thought or hesitation. They had not yet been humbled. 
They had not yet learned that it is one of the most 
dangerous things of human life to disregard or try to set 
aside God’s will. The lesson was now to be learnt by 
them, but too late, because they were to learn at the cost 
of their lives. Still those who came after them were 
probably made wiser by it. 


38 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


When the Egyptians had reached the midst of the sea 
God sent confusion among them. Their chariot wheels 
came off or stuck in the sand. The Israelites meanwhile 
reached the opposite shore safely. When the Egyptians 
saw this and realized their dangerous predicament they 
determined to go back. Let us flee, they said, for the 
Lord fighteth for Israel against the Egyptians. But it 
was too late to go back. Divine Mercy had been patient 
with them long enough. They had been given ample 
opportunity and warning to cease doing evil, but they 
paid no heed. At last God could not do otherwise than 
punish them severely. So he said unto Moses: Stretch 
forth thine hand over the sea, that the water may come 
again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon 
their horsemen. Moses did as God ordered. The sea 
began to rush back to its former condition. When the 
Egyptians saw this they started to flee for their lives. 
They tried to escape God’s punishment. In vain. You 
cannot get away from the penalty of your wrong-doing 
which God the All-Knowing and Just imposes upon you. 
Men have tried to do so again and again, but unsuccess¬ 
fully. We may postpone punishment for a while but 
we cannot escape it unless we give up doing wrong. 
So the Egyptians were engulfed in the waters of the sea. 
They and their splendid horses and chariots sank like 
a stone to the deep. They had once tried to put an end 
to Israel by destroying Israel’s sons in water; now they 
found a watery grave through that very Israel whom 
they had sought to destroy. This is indeed a moral 
world. God is above us. Everything is balanced in due 
time. Let us not be impatient at successful wickedness 
and suffering virtue. God knows best when to act. Let 
us close our lips in humility and wait. 

The Israelites were safe on dry land. God had prom¬ 
ised to protect them and did so. Even when they least 
expected aid it came. One moment they were in the 
terror of threatened destruction, without any possibility 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


39 


of escape that they could see or imagine. The next 
moment they were joyously singing of their wondrous 
salvation. As soon as the Israelites realized their safety 
they naturally broke forth in grateful song. You know 
that we generally sing when we are happy. I shall give 
you parts of their song. You will find all of it in 
Exodus, chapter fifteen. It is very beautiful. 

I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed 
. gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into 
the sea. 

The Lord is my strength and my song, for He hath 
become my salvation. He is my God and I will glorify 
Him; the God of my father and I will exalt Him. 

The Lord, master of battle, the Eternal is He. 

Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath He cast into the 
sea; his choicest captains also are drowned in the Red 
Sea. 

The depths have covered them: they sank into the 
deep as a stone. 

Thy right hand, 0 Lord, is glorious in power: Thy 
right hand, 0 Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. 

In the greatness of Thy sublimity Thou hast over¬ 
thrown those that rose up against Thee: Thou sentest 
forth Thy wrath, it consumed them like stubble. 

By the blast of Thy nostrils were the waters gathered 
together; they stood upright in a heap: they became 
hardened in the heart of the sea. 

The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will 
divide the spoil, I will glut my appetite upon them, I will 
draw my sword and get possession of them. 

But Thou didst blow with Thy wind, and the sea cov¬ 
ered them. They sank like lead into the mighty waters. 

Who is like unto Thee, 0 Lord, among the mighty? 
who is like unto Thee, sublime in holiness, awful in 
praises, and doing wonders? 

Thou didst stretch forth Thy right hand, and the earth 
swallowed them. 

Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth this people which 


40 


FROM SLAVERY TO SONG 


Thou hast redeemed: Thou hast guided them in Thy 
strength to Thy holy dwelling place. 

Nations Will hear of it and tremble. 

The Lord shall reign forever and ever. 

The horse of Pharaoh with his chariots and horsemen 
went into the sea, and the Lord brought the waters of the 
sea upon them, but the Israelites went on dry land in the 
midst of the sea. 

This is a beautiful song. It is a grand song of 
triumph. There is none more inspiring. It is a song at 
the grave of a pitiless enemy but not a song of gladness 
at his destruction. It is a song of praise and thanks¬ 
giving for liberty and safety. It was a beautiful and 
appropriate close to a long history of slavery and 
suffering. It reminds us of what the Psalmist teaches 
(Psalm cxxvi, 5) that: They that sow in tears shall reap 
in gladness. Israel had sown in tears in many years of 
bondage. They were now beginning to reap the fruit of 
liberty in song and smiles. They learned what each of 
us must learn, that, as the Psalmist says (Psalm xxx, 6) : 
Weeping may lodge with us over night, but joy cometh 
in the morning. The world we live in is moral. God is 
over it, and God is good. Goodness and gladness will 
ultimately succeed. Time will turn slavery into song. 



















































